1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a window regulator particularly for motor vehicles, and more specifically, the present invention is concerned with a window regulator which is appropriate for effecting a flush surface body arrangement of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, a so-called "flush surface body arrangement" has been widely applied to motor vehicles, particularly to passenger motor vehicles for the purpose of improving the aerodynamic characteristics and the external appearance of them. The flush surface body arrangement is the arrangement wherein the side surface of the vehicle is smoothed eliminating or at least minimizing any gaps which would appear between the outer surface of each side surface of the vehicle and the outer surface of each door mounted to the side. More specifically, in such arrangement, upon full closing of a window pane of the door in the closed position, the window pane as well as the door proper become substantially flush with the outer surface of the vehicle body.
In the vehicles of a type equipped with sashless doors, however, it has been difficult to practically employ such a flush surface body arrangement because of absence of window sashes by which the window pane is guided during upward and downward movement thereof. Various measures for eliminating such difficulties have been hitherto proposed without obtaining satisfied results.
One of them is the measure which is disclosed in Japanese Patent First Provisional Publication No. 56-81785. In this measure, curved guide rails are stationarily arranged in the door, and rollers connected to a window pane are received in the guide rails to run along the same, so that the closing or upward movement of the window pane induces a gradual shifting of the same toward the outer panel of the door outer panel and finally to its outermost full-closed position wherein the window pane is flush with the surfaces of the door and the vehicle body. However, this measure has also some drawbacks, which are (a) because of usage of numerous guide rails, assembly and adjustment of the window regulator are difficult or at least troublesome; and (b) when assuming a half-open position, the window pane is projected outward by a considerable degree from a window opening of the vehicle thereby deteriorating the aerodynamic characteristics and external appearance of the vehicle.